Table of Contents

Outside events:
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the second
Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call 201-447-3652 for
details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society meets on the third
Saturday of every month in Belleville; call 201-432-5965 for details.

Beer:
A certain beer company (who I have no intention of plugging) has
registered themselves as the official sponsor of the Millennium.
Does this mean that without their sponsorship the Millennium won't
come? Maybe that is the way to avoid the Year 2000 Bug? I want to
know whom they are giving the sponsorship money to. [-mrl]

War of the Worlds:
This notice would not be complete without some discussion of
this event that occurred sixty years ago this very night. Sunday
night, October 30, 1938, the country was already jittery at the
events going on in Europe. It looked like Adolf Hitler was going
to pull Europe into a huge war. Orson Welles decided that his
Mercury Theater on the radio would do a somewhat sensational radio
play. The Mercury Theater did radio adaptations of classic works
of literature. They had done A TALE OF TWO CITIES and TREASURE
ISLAND--that sort of thing. They had already received good
critical response to their production of DRACULA, done some months
earlier. They decided to return to the horror for Halloween. More
specifically they would to do a major work of science fiction
horror, an adaptation of H. G. Wells's WAR OF THE WORLDS.

Howard Koch wrote a script for the radio play. Koch would later go
into writing screenplays for films including CASABLANCA. The play
was written with a major stylistic change from the other Mercury
Theater plays. All but the last third of the story was done in
what we now call "real time" as if it was happening live. The
story was given all the realism the studio production could muster.

The play was made to sound like standard radio broadcasting of
Raymond Raquello and his orchestra from the Meridian Room of the
Hotel Park Plaza. The dance music was repeatedly interrupted by
fake new broadcasts of explosions on the planet Mars and a great
flaming object falling in Grovers Mills, New Jersey. The object
unscrewed as a reporter told the audience. He went closer for a
look inside. "Good heavens, something's wriggling out of the
shadow like a gray snake. Now it's another one, and another. They
look like tentacles to me. I can see the thing's body. It's large
as a bear and it glistens like wet leather. But that face. It ...
it's indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at
it. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is V-
shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to
quiver and pulsate.... The thing is raising up. The crowd falls
back. They've seen enough. This is the most extraordinary
experience. I can't find words. I'm pulling this microphone with
me as I talk. I'll have to stop the description until I've taken a
new position. Hold on, will you please, I'll be back in a minute."
Soon the fictional Martians were attacking people with heat rays
that burned the flesh from their bodies.

People already nervous about the possibility of war panicked.
People armed themselves to fight the Martians; they jammed roads;
one woman was found ready to take sleeping pills rather than go by
the heat ray. An inoffensive water tower thought to be a Martian
war machine was riddled with bullets. People hid in attics and
cellars.

In the years that followed Welles would always put an innocent look
on his face and claim that he never intended for the play to be
taken seriously. Others would claim that there were frequent
reminders that it was only a play. The original broadcast is
easily available and I have heard it several times. I think Welles
was not being honest. The real-time segment is about forty minutes
and runs uninterrupted. There are no reminders that the story is
not real. Welles made every effort to make the earlier segment as
believable as he could manage. My suspicion was that he expected
the audience to believe what they were hearing and stay in their
seats until the ride was over. Even in the broadcast he said that
he could not soap everybody's windows so did the next best thing.
Most people agree what he did was even more effective than soaping
windows. He probably was more successful than he really intended
at making the story believable.

Capsule: Two outcast boys, one learning-
impaired but physically imposing, the other
intelligent but physically handicapped, form a
close friendship in this moving family film.
Max and Kevin help each other through their
personal problems and together make one whole
and formidable person. While the plot is
predictable, the film is substantial and as
entertaining for an adult as it would be for a
teen. Rating: 7 (0 to 10), +2 (-4 to +4)

Nobody expects very much of Max Cane (Eldon Henson) the son of a
man in prison for murder. Max himself is learning impaired and is
spending his third year in the seventh grade. Nature has not been
kind to Max who is big, mean-looking, and rather ugly. Kids in
school call him Killer Cane, (perhaps an allusion to the Buck
Rogers character; there are other science fiction allusions). A
local hoodlum gang, The Dog House Boys, are not sure if they want
to pick on him or if they want him to join their ranks. Max's life
is somewhat less than satisfying, living with his dour grandparents
(Harry Dean Stanton and Gena Rowlands) and getting the knocks he
does at school. Then a new boy moves in next door. This is Kevin
Dillon (Kieron Culkin) with a sadly twisted body and a genuine
intellect. Kevin lives with his mother Gwen (Sharon Stone) and
does "kid-intellectual things" like reading and playing with
scientific toys. A birth defect has left Kevin with a bent spine
and an inability to walk without his crutches. Neither boy is much
good at making friends, but Kevin immediately sees that Max is
almost a perfect complement to himself. Where he is strongest, Max
is weakest; where he is weakest, Max is strongest. But Max has no
interest in being friends with his bookish neighbor and Kevin has
to bribe him with money to act as his legs.

Max is a poor reader and is given Kevin for a reading tutor. Kevin
has Max read Sir James Knowles's LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR AND HIS
KNIGHTS and uses it to inspire Max to read like no professional
teacher has been able to. Max carries Kevin on his shoulders and
together they become one person whom, after the style of King
Arthur, they dub Freak the Mighty. Then time and again their frame
their friendship in Arthurian terms, as if they are a knight in
quest of adventure. Together each is able to face up to his
personal problems and either overcome them or accept them. While
the film travels a predictable course, it is a credible one.

This is director Peter Chelsom's third film and he seems to do
something entirely different each time. His HEAR MY SONG was
likable nostalgic comedy set in London and Ireland. His second
film FUNNY BONES was a very dark and strange look into the world of
the stand-up comic mostly taking place in bleak Liverpool. Now he
tells the story about friendship set in South Cincinnati. Eldon
Henson is a good choice for Max and is certainly not the appealing
sort of young actor one generally sees in film. On the other hand
Kieron Culkin is obviously a Culkin but one who is not so
saccharine as his brother Macaulay. Sharon Stone is making the
transition from glamorous actress to character player skillfully.
One sees little of her previous sensationalist roles in her Gwen.
Here she does a forty-ish mother with real strength. Max's
grandparents are supposed to be as humorless as the people in
"American Gothic," but they are played by Harry Dean Stanton and
Gena Rowlands. The one problem in that casting is that Harry Dean
Stanton has a hard time looking humorless. Even when he is trying
to be serious there is always a twinkle in his eye.

THE MIGHTY is a Canadian production with a screenplay by Charles
Leavitt, based on the novel FREAK THE MIGHTY by Rodman Philbrick.
It is broken into chapters, like a book, and narrated by Max. The
score is melodic with a strong Irish influence that seems a little
out of place with non-Irish characters and the Ohio setting. John
De Borman's camera seems to see Cincinnati as a city of hard steel
bridges and concrete, just over the hill from the boys' homes.

This is really not simply a children's film but a family film and
one that adults can enjoy. It had very good word of mouth at the
Toronto International Film Festival (though it was not one of the
films I saw there) and deservedly so. I rate it a 7 on the 0 to 10
scale and a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale. [-mrl]

Capsule: It is Helge's 60th birthday and his
whole family has turned out to celebrate. But
as people get drunker things are things are
going to be said and things will be done. This
will be the pivotal day in the life of this
family. THE CELEBRATION has a slow start and
takes a long time to get going, but there are
some powerful moments. Like BREAKING THE WAVES
this film uses the conventions of Dogma 95.
THE CELEBRATION is a very mixed bag. Rating: 6
(0 to 10), 1 (-4 to +4)

The audience tittered when before the film a certificate was shown
saying the film followed Dogma 95. Indeed, even the filmmakers who
subscribe to Dogma 95 do not know if it is serious. Dogma 95 is a
Danish movement in filmmaking that is a reaction to over-polished,
unrealistic Hollywood films. Films made with Dogma 95 conventions
are shot generally with a hand-held camera with natural sound.
Shooting is done on location rather than at a studio. The effect
of the unsteadied hand-held camera give THE CELEBRATION the feel of
a sound home movie, but the lack of music gives it also some of the
immediacy of a stage play. My wife claimed that BREAKING THE WAVES
made her seasick and this film did much the same. It clearly has a
very positive effect by fighting burgeoning film budgets. The
crudeness of the production adds a certain credibility to the
story. Like monochrome it contributes to the mood. And oddly an
unfinished photographic style gives a film more credibility in the
same way that saturated Technicolor makes it less credible.

THE CELEBRATION is made with Dogma 95 conventions and like Dogma 95
it is a mixed bag of positive and negative touches. The film is
105 minutes, but seems longer because it takes almost an hour to
get to the serious content. By the time one gets to the serious
content, one has almost forgotten the blur of people in the first
hour. Lost is characterization that would be interesting once one
could place the characters in the main story line. In the spirit
of Dogma 95 parsimony the film has a minimum of music--the first
music in THE CELEBRATION is a music box heard over the end-titles.

It is Helge's 60th birthday and the entire extended family is
gathering to attend a gala party at a hotel Helge (Henning
Moritzen) manages. Arriving are older son Christian (Ulrich
Thomsen), younger son Michael (Thomas Bo Larsen), and middle
daughter Helene (Paprika Steen). The fourth child, Christian's
twin sister had committed suicide some time earlier. We see some
family tensions, but at first they do not amount to much. Finally
the banquet begins and the children start toasting their father.
Christian's toast starts fulsome and typical of what one would
expect, but in the middle he throws in an accusation that Helge had
sexually molested him and Linda. People do not know what to make
of this little piece of unpleasantness. If Christian will only
apologize the party can continue, but each time Christian makes a
speech he broadens on the accusation. What is there to do so that
the party can go on?

Once the story gets going the drama is powerful and has overtones
of American scandal politics making it much more topical than
director and co-writer Thomas Vinterberg could have expected.
Though the story loses some of its potential impact by resolving
whether the accusations are true, there is a very good play in the
second half of this film. If Vinterberg had started with the
banquet and elaborated on people's reactions this could have been a
very powerful piece of social commentary. As it is it wastes too
much of the viewer's time getting where it needed to go and then
never sufficiently develops characters like Helge's wife.

This is an okay film that missed its opportunities to be a really
powerful experience. While Dogma 95 will turn off some users, the
film's taking too long to get to its real story is its biggest
flaw. I rate it a 6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +1 on the -4 to +4
scale. [-mrl]

"Mamaloshen" is Yiddish for "the mother language." It is Yiddish's
affectionate name for itself. And when you are in a country with
an unfamiliar and bewildering language one does feel an affection
for the familiar and comforting strains of one's native language.
So at its best Mandy Patinkin's short but sweet stage performance
MAMALOSHEN is much more than the singing of a cycle of Yiddish
songs. It is a textured view of the Jewish immigrant experience in
the early 20th century. The songs, mostly in Yiddish with a little
English sprinkled in, are a look--or rather a listen--into several
facets of life. One song will be a mother's humorous lament caring
for her bickering children. Another looks at the story of a
sweatshop worker who gets fed up and goes on strike. And what
besides sing do they do for entertainment? Well there is a Yiddish
song to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." And with so
much Yiddish music how could we possibly miss having a wedding
scene complete with the breaking of the glass.

One might well ask how does one know what songs in a totally
foreign language are about. So what's so totally foreign about
Yiddish? In the first place Jewish immigrants peppered their
language with English phrases. What is not English is in large
part from the German with a high number of cognates--recognizable
sound-alike words. And each song gets a five or six-word
description flashed on the stage. And finally there is Mr.
Patinkin's expressive performance containing no small component of
acting talent. So rather than sitting there and thinking "nice
music, I wonder what it means" the audience is swept up into the
world of the Jewish immigrant. One is immersed in the world of New
York's Lower East Side without ever hearing the phrase "Lower East
Side." What one does not recognize in the music adds some air of
mystery, but nothing confusing or unpleasant.

What is confusing however is the mixing in of more recent music
from Simon and Garfinkle to MARY POPPINS's
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Some of this is quite
melodic, but it pulls us roughly from the nostalgic trance Patinkin
has created and does it for no apparent reason. When the music
mixes in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" or "God Bless America" it
emphasizes the dual-allegiance of immigrants, hanging onto the old
loyalties and developing new loyalties for the new. But the
experience loses its authenticity with obvious anachronisms. And
with a total performance-length less than 70 minutes one hates to
give up the time to anything inauthentic.

The story is that Joseph Papp asked Patinkin to perform one
authentic Yiddish song for the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
When he heard the expression and emotion Patinkin put into his
Yiddish singing he told Patinkin "This is what you should be doing.
This is your job." And indeed if Yiddish had maintained more of a
following over this century this indeed might well be what Patinkin
would be doing. But Yiddish has been a dying language in 1900s.
That is because the Holocaust in large part murdered it and because
the founding of Israel reintroduced Hebrew as a competing language
for the Jewish people. Not just a language, but a literature and a
culture were in danger of being lost to the ages. It has taken a
few stubborn people to hang on to Yiddish and revive it. But if
Jews were not a stubborn people, they would probably not still be
Jews. And a song cycle of Yiddish songs--well mostly Yiddish
songs--still packs an auditorium. [-mrl]

Up and out. Breakfast from McDonalds (to get some protein). This
is the first film we will see with Kate.

ELIZABETH (British-Indian)

CAPSULE: The first hour is beautifully realized. In the second
hour the writing gets a little muddled and the style becomes less
original. Still, this story of the coming to power of Queen
Elizabeth is enthralling. She is a bit too much a 1990s woman, but
the photography is very good. Rating: 8 (0 to 10), high +2 (-4 to
+4)

Directed by Shekhar Kapur. Unusual to see an Indian directing
a film about a British monarch.

Very powerful telling of the rise to power of Elizabeth I.
The first hour was spellbinding. The director filmed with
real power. By the second hour the writing had gotten a
little muddled.

David Hirschfelder (SHINE) provides a very melodic score.

Many overhead shots to show the size of the buildings and
smallness of people. Photography kept dark. Many scenes done
in rich blacks and reds.

Somehow reminiscent of a Hieronymous Bosch painting with some
of its weird and powerful images.

False move in showing Elizabeth practice an argument using a
technique like would be used to show outtakes. It seems like
too modern an editing technique.

Elizabeth begins as a pawn and learns to fend for herself.
Deciding best way to be rid of Elizabeth, Queen Mary instructs
a bishop, "Your Grace will find some proof of her treachery."

Very harrowing and haunting scene of an execution by burning.
Do not bring young children.

Wolsingham (Geoffrey Rush) is Elizabeth's Secret Service and
is ruthless in protecting her.

I like films of this period and few are done as well as
ELIZABETH.

She may be written a little too much like a modern woman.

JERRY AND TOM (United States)

CAPSULE: Two used car salesmen are also contract killers for the
organized crime syndicate. We see them over the course of years as
the Mentor loses his edge and the younger learns the skills of the
older man but does not inherit his scruples. Humor and drama
intermingle. Joe Montegna leads a cast of familiar actors.
Rating: 7 (0 to 10), 2 (-4 to +4)

Directed by Saul Rubinek. Screenplay by Rick Cleveland based
on his own one-act play.

Older killer Tom (Joe Mantegna) teaches Jerry (Sam Rockwell)
the nuts and bolts of the killing profession. Including how
to make things like a chainsaw work. Jerry is a dim bulb.

Paternal Tom eventually becomes bothered by the ruthlessness
of his partner Jerry.

Initially a comedy, but the serious elements take over. They
could not remain flippant about murder for long.

Amazing scene transitions that look like one continuous cut;
yet there are no special effects in the film. All transitions
done by building a recreation of the previous set next to the
following set.

Humorous allusions to real events. (E.g. Kennedys, Jimmy
Hoffa).

A Thai noodle house for lunch.

I WOKE UP EARLY THE DAY I DIED (United States)

CAPSULE: An escaped mental patient loses the loot from a robbery
and goes on a search for it. This is basically a silent film. It
often borrows its style from Chaplin and other comics, plus adding
some manic style of its own. Do not expect to see much Ed Wood
here. Rating: 3 (0 to 10), high -1 (-4 to +4)

Hollywood really is the place where dreams come true. Clearly
with the renewed popularity of Ed Wood somebody wanted to have
a new Ed Wood film to cash in with. Supposedly this is a lost
script from Ed Wood. There is little about I WOKE UP EARLY
THE DAY I DIED to remind one of Ed Wood's style (or lack
thereof). If this unfilmed Wood script really exists not much
of it seems to have made it to the screen.

A lot of familiar people in small roles. Billy Zane is the
star, going from a huge-budget film called TITANIC to a very
low-budget film. He is actually better as a comic actor than
a serious one.

Some scenes could be out of an Ed Wood film so either parts
really are by Wood or are made to be in his style. But there
are not enough of those.

No dialog except on pieces of stock footage. The claim was
that this was the first time that was done. Actually it
wasn't.

Tippi Hedren, John Ritter, and Bud Cort in small roles.

A lot of slapstick. (Anyone remember Wood even putting
intentional humor in a film? His films usually took
themselves very seriously.)

Hip and occasionally funny but unlikely to be authentic. Not
funny enough to deserve a good rating.

THE SLEEPWALKER (Argentina with subtitles)

CAPSULE: In a distopic future in which a disaster has wiped out
memories of 300,000 people, one of the amnesiacs has memories from
another time. They may be the key to finding a fugitive
revolutionary leader. Toward the end there are a lot of
interesting ideas introduced. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), high +1 (-4 to
+4)

Photography in monochrome with some objects in color to call
attention to them as in SCHINDLER'S LIST and ZENTROPA (a.k.a.
EUROPA).

Main character Eva awakes in a cathedral and is arrested by
security forces. No memory but an accident with amnesia gas
has left 300,000 people without memories. Nobody knows who
was married or related to whom. (Did none of these people
carry identification in this totalitarian state?)

New state draws the letter "K" backwards wherever it appears.
How did this come about?

Government can look at tapes of main character's visions,
memories, and dreams. Not well done since main character sees
herself in the third person in her own dreams.

The State is looking for Gauna, a poet and resistance leader.
Agent Kluge chasing main character decides to join her. Cross
country chase.

Matte work not good by some countries' standards. But artwork
is good. Some interesting ideas about the future.

Toward the end there are a lot of ideas.

We had a dinner at Flo's Diner. The food was supposed to be
genuine diner fare. But I come from New Jersey, which is really
diner country and Flo's is sort of an idealized version. The food
was very good. I had a hot turkey sandwich and fries. The
chocolate milkshake was very good and served the old fashioned way
in a stainless steal pourer. For desert I had strawberry-rhubarb
pie.